Sandy takes a toll on Atlantic City casinos

Hurricane Sandy sent Atlantic City's casinos to their worst monthly revenue decline ever, down nearly 20 percent in October compared to a year earlier. Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY -
This resort's casinos are struggling to deal with the aftermath of
Sandy by laying off workers, cutting the hours of others, and making
still others take unpaid leaves.

The storm forced the city's 12 casinos to close for five to seven days. Since then, business has been slower than normal.

The Atlantic Club has turned to layoffs to offset the downturn. The
two Trump casinos are making salaried workers take a week off without
pay and are barring hourly workers from using vacation days to cover
time off during the storm.

Moody's Investors Service predicts that Atlantic City casino revenue
could be down 25 percent for the next six months and earnings down as
much as 50 percent over the same period due to the storm.

Tony Rodio, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey and the
Tropicana Casino & Resort, said the storm hurt business at all of
the casinos.

"It's going to take a few months before we get back to normal because
of the impact to the homes and businesses of our customers," he said.

But it's not as bad as it could have been, Rodio said.

"If there had
been major storm damage to the casinos, that would have been an impact
[on the resort] that would have lasted for years. But that didn't
happen."

Trump Entertainment Resorts, which owns the Trump Taj Mahal Casino
Resort and Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino, is making its salaried
workers take a week-long unpaid furlough, cutting schedules of hourly
workers, and preventing them from using vacation days to get paid for
time they were away during the storm.

Don Marrandino, eastern division president of Caesars Entertainment
Inc. which owns four Atlantic City casinos, said business is slowly
returning.

Hotel occupancy percentages are in the 60s compared with the 80s this
time of year at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City,
Bally's Atlantic City, and Showboat Casino Hotel. The casinos are
scheduling about 20 percent less staff, Marrandino said.

"It's a double-whammy: the start of a slower season combined with a
big impact to our feeder markets," Marrandino said. "But we're trying to
be fair to our employees and to keep people working. We paid our
employees for some of the days they were out."

One casino has gained business since Sandy. The Golden Nugget
Atlantic City's hotel occupancy rate is up 4 percent over last year due
to Red Cross and utility workers staying there.